The box was an abstract design in a rich purple with a window to view the mince pies. The design of these pies was highly unusual – a five-pointed star cut into the top showing straight through onto the filling. This was a brave move on Sainsburys’ part, as a cut-out showing the typical gap between pastry and mincemeat would be off-putting to any shopper. However Sainsbury have filled these pies well, although arguably they are a little flatter than average.

When it comes to the mincemeat these pies are more unusual yet: they contain nuts! Almonds to be precise. These were the first mince pies we had come across including chopped nuts in the mincemeat and led to a mixed response – as none of the Frogs is allergic to nuts we hadn’t checked, so it came as a surprise. For some this unusual move led to a really nicely chunky texture to the mincemeat, but for others it was an unwanted addition. The greatest criticism of the mincemeat was that it was difficult to distinguish any of the individual flavours – it was a nice overall flavour, but you couldn’t taste that the nuts were actually almonds, for example, and they tasted the same as the raisins anyway! As it’s unlikely that the average mince pie is considered quite as intently as ours have been, it is unlikely that you’ll find this much of a problem.

The pastry was well-received on the whole (3.7/5), largely because it wasn’t quite as thick as many of those we’ve sampled. However, not all the judges found it as buttery as Pie Sponsor, Mandy: Karen found it “anaemic” and Nick “soggy.” The marks given for texture were varied: many judges disliked either mincemeat or pastry, although few disliked both.

Although these were the most expensive big-brand mince pies we had had at £2.50 per box (currently £3.50 for 2), they still scored fairly highly on value for money as none of the judges felt that they were poor quality, and some felt them to be excellent.

As Pie Sponsor, Mandy, put it:

“Without a doubt the best so far: from the very short, buttery pastry through to the brandy-laced mincemeat. A truly delicious Christmasy treat!”

Overall, an excellent offering from Sainsburys, scoring 342/440 and beating ASDA to move into second place.

. . . . . . . . . .

AND THE JUDGES’ RESULTS ARE:

Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Brandy Rich Mince Pies £1.76		RICHARD Appearance: 9/10 Texture: 9/10 Taste (mincemeat): 4/5 Taste (pastry): 5/5 Value for money: 9/10		NICK Appearance: 8/10 Texture: 6/10 Taste (mincemeat): 3/5 Taste (pastry): 3/5 Value for money: 7/10		SARAH Appearance: 7/10 Texture: 8/10 Taste (mincemeat): 4/5 Taste (pastry): 3/5 Value for money: 7/10
ROB Appearance: 9/10 Texture: 10/10 Taste (mincemeat): 5/5 Taste (pastry): 5/5 Value for money: 9/10		RALPH Appearance: 8/10 Texture: 7/10 Taste (mincemeat): 4/5 Taste (pastry): 3/5 Value for money: 8/10		GAVIN Appearance: 8/10 Texture: 6/10 Taste (mincemeat): 3/5 Taste (pastry): 4/5 Value for money: 7/10		JAMES Appearance: 9/10 Texture: 6/10 Taste (mincemeat): 2/5 Taste (pastry): 4/5 Value for money: 7/10
MANDY Appearance: 10/10 Texture: 9/10 Taste (mincemeat): 4/5 Taste (pastry): 5/5 Value for money: 10/10		JON Appearance: 7/10 Texture: 7/10 Taste (mincemeat): 4/5 Taste (pastry): 4/5 Value for money: 8/10		KAREN Appearance: 7/10 Texture: 7/10 Taste (mincemeat): 4/5 Taste (pastry): 1/5 Value for money: 6/10		TINA Appearance: 8/10 Texture: 8/10 Taste (mincemeat): 4/5 Taste (pastry): 4/5 Value for money: 9/10

. . . . . . . . . .

CASUAL PIE-STANDER COMMENTS:

Sam says: “Despite some off-putting comments made about the appearance these are actually OK. The pastry is shortbread-like and buttery, there is plenty of filling and, although the cost per box was a bit higher, they were still reasonable value. A good solid mid-table pie.”

Gavin: “Don’t like the bits in the bottom”

Jon: “While they look like a cat’s bottom, they taste much nicer (I imagine)!”

Nick: “Soggy pastry”

Ralph: “Bit ‘clarty’, but was tasty though”

Karen: “The pastry was anaemic”

Richard: “Finger lickin’ good”

. . . . . . . . . .

The first part of our activity was to visit all 270 London tube stations. During the day, we had 10 teams travelling through the entire London Underground network exiting each and every station to take photos of the entrance as proof of check in, as well as carrying out secret challenges set by our sponsors!

Despite an early start, 32 team members dressed in luminous green hoodies set off from Leicester Square, three to Central Command who co-ordinated the logistics of the day, and the others split into ten teams armed with their individual routes and challenges. Highlights of the event included the opportunity to use our new Facebook App which tracked our progress through images and tweets as we travelled round the busy capital, as well as having plenty of opportunities to visit some iconic landmarks.

We would like to say a huge thank you for the generosity of all those that supported us on the day plus our corporate sponsors. So far we have raised just under £7,000 but we still have over two months left and aim to reach our target of £15,000.

If you would like to help Sue Ryder provide compassionate support to people living through life changing illness please visit our Just Giving page, http://www.justgiving.com/purplefrog-tube-challenge.

Keep an eye on our social media activity and images on Twitter @purplefroguk and http://www.facebook.com/purplefroguk

Frank Hudson, John Lewis Range Leaflets – 2010/2011

Frank Hudson Range Leaflets April 2011

St Joseph’s Hospice Bereavement Support May 2010 & Light Up a Life Xmas 2009

The Royal Institution of Great Britain August – November 2011

Purple Frog help the Ri produce a range of literature including the Curious Minds Newsletter. This newsletter is produced 4 times a year and is sent to their entire membership. The newsletter keeps members informed of current activity and has articles of interest from leading members of the scientific community.

All membership bodies need to keep in touch with their membership and whilst much of this can be achieved online through websites, Facebook and Twitter there is still the need to produce printed communications. Curious Minds is well received by the membership of the Ri and will no doubt be continued in the future.

FACT – society today is reliant on immediate information. In business if the email server drops off for just five minutes, staff can be see either slapping their keyboards in panic, or charging around the office with a furrowed brow looking for anyone associated to the IT department. At home we are becoming more hungry for up to date information. Broadcasters oblige by pushing breaking news 24/7 onto our TV screens. Mobile apps alert us of news, sport, business and gossip by pushing content into our handsets. And of course there are the social networking sites where we can keep up to date with activities of a friends and favourite brands.

Social media works for consumers because it provides an immediacy to information, regardless of whether the information is local or global. Purple Frog use social media to push content and engage with consumers for our clients, but we also can make this work for B2B organisations that need to promote messages where the relevancy is subject to its immediacy.

A good example of this social activity is with the Automatic Vending Association (AVA).

Brief
The vending industry every two years showcase their products and services and announce the latest industry innovations at the international vending show, AVEX. Apart form the large commodity manufacturers, the majority of vending businesses have never considered social media as a marketing channel to push their messages to their target audiences. Purple Frog were asked to create a social media buzz around AVEX 2011 and try to encourage participation form exhibitors and visitors to the event.

Solution
Days before the show, Purple Frog invited 5 major vending exhibitors to make use of Twitter and have over 650 tweets scheduled for publishing over the two day event promoting their key messages. During AVEX, the Purple Frog social media team gave a social commentary using images and tweets of all the major incidents, each making use of specific hash tags. The hash tags were used to stream tweets of various content types from exhibitor offers, speaker notifications and event activities giving visitors immediate event information as it happens. To promote the social media activity, bluetooth proximity marketing messages were broadcast at the entrance of the hall alerting every visitor with a smart phone, and incentivising engagement with an iPad prize draw.

Outome
On top of the 5 invited exhibitors, a further 36 either used their own Twitter accounts, activated a new Twitter accounts at the show, or requested Purple Frog to push their tweets on their behalf. A combined total of 1206 tweets were published over the two days that used the specific hashtags. Although Day One was more successful than Day Two, there was an impressive 6% engagement from vistors to the show. At AVEX 2013, it is expected that social media will again be used to create a buzz, but stepped up with the idea of displaying the hashtag streams on giant screens around the event giving activity accessibility to no-smart phone vistors.

For my part, having worked within the design studio for many years I’ve been able to use the experience I’ve gained to become involved in various parts of the agency which for me is something I enjoy and has given me a greater understanding how as individuals we can all bring our own skills to create an incredibly strong team.

Working within the Sales & Marketing department of the organisation, I have the opportunity of maintaining existing relationships with a group of clients, identifying their needs and working out how we can best meet those requirements by maintaining a good understanding of those clients and their business strategies.

Helping the MD, as part of the New Business team, we maintain an up to date database of new prospects, implement quarterly email campaigns, organise events such as seminars and charity fundraisers, as well as looking for opportunities whereby we can engage with other organisations sharing knowledge and learning new skills.

I’m also responsible for planning, implementing, managing and maintaining the IT hardware, software and systems for Purple Frog, ensuring back up systems operate effectively, purchasing hardware and software and providing users with support and advice through the most appropriate channel.

By ensuring we have a highly professional bank of freelancers with a diverse range of skills across all platforms I can ensure we can offer the flexibility and agility required by our clients. In addition, as and when required I carry out general administrative duties within the creative department. Be it checking artwork prior to it leaving the studio, signing off printers proofs prior to production, or creating and maintaining internal documentation.

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View Mandy’s personal blog

As a result Rectory Homes require that their brochures and sales literature meet the highest of standards, reflecting the desirability of the properties they are building. Purple Frog have developed a style of brochure which complements the brand identity work we undertook for Rectory Homes.

The brochures are all designed to reflect quality, but also simplicity. Feature photographs, along with clear floor plans and limited copy ensure that the brochures are well received by prospective purchasers. The brochures are also printed on paper and board that is from sustainable forests and is totally chlorine free (TCF).

In property development, brochures need to reflect your brand and your building. Rectory Homes have achieved this with the help of Purple Frog.

Marillion are one of the UK music scene’s best kept secrets; purveyors of soulful, powerful, and often deeply-moving music, with a long-standing reputation for blistering live shows which have earned them an impressive and faithful global fan-base.

Purple Frog work with Marillion and Racket Records their own online shop to produce a range of marketing material and CD’s. TheWebUK magazine is a quarterly production which goes out to the Marillion fanbase of just over 3,000. The magazine is eagerly awaited by fans since Marillion banished the spectre of record company pressure once and for all by launching their own record label (the aptly-named Intact imprint) and freeing themselves up to produce some of the finest music of their career.

Thanks to the Marillion pioneering Internet-based rock n’roll business model, Marillion have developed a unique and intimate relationship with their fans. In fact they could even be deemed to have been involved in social media and social communities before they became all the craze. From sponsoring entire tours of the USA to funding the recording of recent albums, Marillion’s global fan-base is unique in its affection and dedication.

TheWebMagazine is a testament to the power of the Marillion brand and Purple Frog are pleased to be involved and helping such a pioneering band.